American tears ligaments, breaks a bone, gets airlifted

Day 1 of the World Championships did not start well for American star skier Lindsey Vonn. She lost balance during a super-G jump Tuesday in Schladming, Austria, flipped in the air, landed on her back and smashed through a gate before coming to a halt. She was airlifted to a hospital.

Luca Bruno/Associated Press

Day 1 of the World Championships did not start well for American star skier Lindsey Vonn. She lost balance during a super-G jump Tuesday in Schladming, Austria, flipped in the air, landed on her back and smashed through a gate before coming to a halt. She was airlifted to a hospital.

SCHLADMING, Austria

Lindsey Vonn will miss the rest of the ski season after tearing knee ligaments and breaking a bone in her leg in a high-speed crash Tuesday at the world championships.

The U.S. team expects her to return for the next World Cup season and the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Vonn lost balance on her right leg while landing a jump in the super-G. She flipped in the air, landed on her back and smashed through a gate before coming to a halt.

The four-time overall World Cup winner and 2010 Olympic downhill champion received medical treatment on the slope for 12 minutes before being taken by helicopter to a hospital in Schladming.

The 28-year-old star tore her anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in her right knee, U.S. team medical director Kyle Wilkens said in a statement. The broken bone in her lower leg was described as a “lateral tibial plateau fracture.”

Christian Kaulfersch, the assistant medical director at worlds, said Vonn left the Schladming hospital Tuesday afternoon and will have surgery at another hospital.

“She first wanted to go back to the team hotel to mentally deal with all what has happened,” Kaulfersch said.

Team physician William Sterett was with Vonn but declined to offer any more information when contacted by The Associated Press.

This is the sixth consecutive major championship in which Vonn has been hit with injuries. The crash in the opening event of the championships almost came exactly a year before the Olympics.

“She will be out for the remainder of this season but is expected to return to racing for the 2013-14 ... World Cup season and the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi,” the team said.

Vonn returned to the circuit last month after an almost monthlong break from racing to fully recover from an intestinal illness that put her in a hospital for two days in November.

The start of Tuesday’s race was delayed by 3˝ hours because of fog hanging over the course, and the skiers began in waning light at 2:30 p.m. Even before Vonn’s crash, a course worker fell and also had to be airlifted. He was reported to have broken his nose.

All the delays made for flat light when Vonn raced.

“Lindsey did a great job on top, and Lindsey has won a lot of races in flat light, so the flat light was definitely not a problem,” U.S. Alpine director Patrick Riml said.

“We are upset obviously with what happened, but if you don’t know the facts and why they decided to start and what the weather forecast was, it’s hard to say without any reasoning,” Riml said. “And they probably had a reason, otherwise they wouldn’t have started.”

It was difficult to pinpoint when Vonn lost control as she came off a left turn into the jump.

“She jumped a little bit in the wrong direction and started to correct that a little bit in the air and put a lot of pressure on the outside ski exactly in the landing, and she couldn’t hold the pressure, and then (she crashed),” International Ski Federation women’s race director Atle Skaardal said.

Skaardal defended the decision to race.

“I can confirm that the visibility was great; there were no problems, and the course was also in good shape,” he said. “I don’t see that any outside factors played a role in this accident. ... The other factors were like they were supposed to be for ski racing.”

Two years ago, Vonn pulled out midway through the last worlds in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, because of a mild concussion. At the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Vonn skied despite a severely bruised shin to win the downhill and take bronze in the super-G.

At the 2009 worlds in Val d’Isčre, France, she sliced her thumb open on a champagne bottle after sweeping gold in the downhill and super-G, forcing her out of the giant slalom. At the 2007 worlds in Are, Sweden, Vonn injured her knee in training and missed her final two events.

And at the 2006 Torino Olympics, she had a horrific crash in downhill training and went directly from her hospital room to the mountain to compete in four of her five events.

Having regained her form in recent weeks, Vonn trailed eventual race winner Tina Maze of Slovenia by just 0.12 seconds at an intermediate interval shortly before Tuesday’s crash.

The conditions varied from racer to racer.

Former overall winner Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany started immediately after Vonn and skied off course.

“It’s not a very difficult course, but in some parts you couldn’t see anything,” said Fabienne Suter of Switzerland, who finished fifth.

However, Vonn’s teammate Julia Mancuso thrived in the difficult conditions and won the bronze medal.

“It’s the same for everybody,” U.S. speed coach Chip White said. “Everyone had to wait for a long time, and that’s always difficult. And the holds were every 15 minutes so it really doesn’t give you a chance to go and do something else. You’re always kind of on edge at the ready. It’s a difficult situation, but everybody had the same difficult situation.”

Lindsey Vonn tore her anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in her right knee, U.S. team medical director Kyle Wilkens said in a statement Tuesday after the 28-year-old crashed in the World Championships super-G in Schladming, Austria. The broken bone in her lower leg was described as a “lateral tibial plateau fracture.”

Luca Bruno/Associated Press

Lindsey Vonn tore her anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in her right knee, U.S. team medical director Kyle Wilkens said in a statement Tuesday after the 28-year-old crashed in the World Championships super-G in Schladming, Austria. The broken bone in her lower leg was described as a “lateral tibial plateau fracture.”

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Maze tastes first gold at championships

Matthias Schrader/Associated Press

SCHLADMING, Austria – Tina Maze became the first Slovenian skier to win a world championship gold medal in a speed event, taking the opening women’s super-G on Tuesday in a race overshadowed by a crash involving Lindsey Vonn that will sideline her for the season.

Maze attacked all the way, winning in 1 minute, 35.39 seconds and beating Lara Gut of Switzerland by 0.38. Julia Mancuso of the U.S. was third, 0.52 behind.

“The gold medal means a lot to me,” said Maze, who is having a standout season on the World Cup circuit and quickly is closing in on the overall title. “I had a great run. Slovenia is a small country and has so many great athletes. That makes me really happy.”

The race was delayed by 3˝ hours because of thick fog and was called off after 36 racers because new clouds of fog were moving in. The results stand, with the top-30 racers having started their run.

“I was prepared for a long day,” said Maze, who now has four world championship medals. “World championships are special; you have to stay focused. I knew we would race (Tuesday) despite all the delays.”

Days of snow and rain softened the course, especially in the lower part. The evening before the race, Atle Skaardal, the women’s race director for the international federation, called it an “extreme situation.” The fog further complicated matters.

The clouds caused poor visibility in the middle section, the steepest part of the 1.4-mile Streicher course where skiers race at up to 62 mph.

Several racers struggled with the changing conditions, with favorites such as Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany and Anna Fenninger of Austria missing gates and failing to finish, and Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany coming 0.94 off the leading time in eighth.

“It was OK,” Maze replied when asked whether the race should have been started. “World championship races often have special conditions. The mistakes from the girls were not because of the slope.”

Mancuso wasn’t fully satisfied with the run that earned her a fifth world championship medal, two years after winning silver in super-G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

“It’s always really nice to win a medal, but of course I know I could have a better run,” the American said. “It was not a perfect run. My brain shut off halfway down the course so that’s why I had some mistakes, but I knew I was going fast. This was the kind of course on which you have to be on the limit.”

Mancuso said it was “really hard” to race after Vonn, who started three racers earlier.

“I didn’t see it on TV,” said Mancuso, who was in the start gate preparing for her run when the crash happened.

Vonn fell after a long jump, her ski came off immediately, and she slid off course and hit a gate before coming to a halt. The four-time overall World Cup champion received medical treatment on the slope for 12 minutes before being taken to the hospital. She left for the team hotel later Tuesday.

Vonn trailed Maze by 0.12 seconds shortly before the crash. The race continued after another 15-minute delay.

Gut had two mistakes in the turning middle part that slowed her but attacked the bottom part for a strong finish to earn her third world championship medal – all in silver. She took second in downhill and super-combined at the 2009 event in Val d’Isčre, France, where she became the youngest Swiss skier to medal at 18.

“It’s fantastic to come second,” Gut said. “My run was poor; I was too late at many turns and was surprised with my time.”

After eight starters, the race was interrupted for 15 minutes because of a crash by a course worker, who also was removed by helicopter. He was brought to the hospital with a broken nose.

The men’s super-G is scheduled for Wednesday and also could be affected by the weather, with overnight snowfall forecast.